Whitney Houston

Credit: Evan Agostini/AP

Whitney Houston scores her best opening week in the Nielsen SoundScan era as "I Look to You" enters the Billboard 200 at No. 1 with sales of 305,000.

The album, her first of new material in seven years, far bests first week sales of that title, "Just Whitney," which sold 205,000 copies in 2002 to enter at No. 9.  (Just take a moment to reflect on the fact that sales north of 200,000 barely landed an artist in the Top 10 seven years ago, where as it would ensure a No. 1 debut most weeks these days).

"I Look to You" enters charts in Canada, Germany, Italy and Switzerland at No. 1 as well, according to her label, Arista.

Houston's set is just one of six new titles entering the Top 10 this week, according to Billboard. Trey Songz' "Ready" comes in at No. 3, the Insane Clown Posse bows at No. 4 with "Bang! Pow! Boom!,"  rockers Chevelle  land at No. 6 with "Sci-fi Crimes," rapper Pitbull's "Rebelution"  bows at No. 8 and rockers The Used sneak in at No. 10 with "Artwork."

Colbie Caillat's "Breakthrough, " which was No. 1 last week, slips to No. 5.

Next week's chart is sure to be controversial since the Billboard 200 will not include the Beatles titles. They count as catalog and the Billboard 200 does not allow them on the main album chart, although they will be factored into Billboard's comprehensive chart.  While they cumulatively will sell the most of any act next week, it's doubtful that any individual album will sell enough to land on the top of the Comprehensive chart.  Our bet for No. 1 next week on the Billboard 200 and the Comprehensive chart  is Jay Z's "The Blueprint 3."

While we expect Houston will dip in sales next week, as is customary, expect her to get another surge that could take her back to No. 1 after she appears on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" on both Sept. 14 and 15^.

The Beatles, as seen on the cover of "Beatles For Sale"

The world does not need another article about the Beatles remasters being reissued today. If you're looking for one, I recommend the New York Times' recent piece. 

Instead, I decided to share my Top 10 Beatles hits. These are the Beatles songs I turn to in times of trouble (sorry, I couldn't resist). There is no thought given here to song structure or whether it's Lennon or McCartney singing lead or instrumentation, just how the song makes me feel.  Picking only 10 was next to impossible. What's your favorite Beatles tune?

1) "A Day in the Life": Producer George Martin takes a trippy John Lennon song and a peppy Paul McCartney song and glues them together with 90 seconds of cacophonous sonic netting. Perhaps the first industrial bridge in a song ever.

2) "Eleanor Rigby": An aching meditation on loneliness. Bernard Hermann's score for "Psycho" influenced the staccato strings.

3) "Penny Lane": As joyous musically as "Eleanor Rigby" is sad and a fitting tribute to the band's hometown.

4) "A Hard Day's Night": Is there a more instantly recognizable opening chord than this one?

5) "Let It Be": Supposedly inspired by a dream McCartney had about his mom, the song serves as one of the most beautiful benedictions ever written-both to the end of the Beatles (it was released after they'd announced their break up) and to anyone who hears it. A comforting, loving touch to anyone who needs it.

6) "Hey Jude": McCartney's song to Julian Lennon following his parents' divorce. Impossible not to sing along. Just try not to.

7) "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight": It's not just about the ending statement: "And In the end..." It's the whole suite and the wistfully beautiful "Once there was a way to get back homeward."

8) "Back in the USSR": Pure fun. McCartney said he wrote it as a parody of a Beach Boys song. I'll disconnect the phone to listen to this one anytime.

9) "In My Life": One of the most beautiful love songs ever because it is so simple both lyrically and musically: "In my life, I loved you more." Who ever needs to hear more than that?

10) "Revolution": I'm talking about the electric, distorted, unhinged version where John Lennon goes crazy, not the slower album version. A political song from a decidedly apolitical band.

Janet Jackson will pay tribute to her brother during the opening of this year's MTV Video Music Awards.

Janet Jackson will help pay tribute to her brother Michael at Sunday's Video Music Awards on MTV.  She will open the show, which we're sure will be filled with references to Michael Jackson's legacy.

If you haven't seen it, the VMAs are running a clever commercial tagging the salute to the King of Pop that opens with a sequined glove falling from the sky onto a New York taxi cab windshield. The single glove is followed by a storm of sequined gloves. Finally, a voice over says something like "The King of Pop reigns" Sunday night at the VMAs.

In addition to Janet Jackson, other acts confirmed to appear include Pink, Katy Perry, Green Day, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga.

Look for indepth coverage of the MTV Video Music Awards all day Sunday on HitFix.

The cover art for "Meet Me on the Equinox" by Death Cab for Cutie.

Credit: Death Cab for Cutie

Hear it here first:  a snippet from Death Cab for Cutie's song "Meet Me on the Equinox" from"Twilight" sequel "New Moon."

The song, all 35 seconds that we can hear, reminds us, forebodingly, that "Everything ends."  The sample cuts off before the chorus can really take hold, but it sounds like vintage  Death Cab for Cutie...not nearly as catchy as "I Will Break Your Heart," but certainly not a major shift from Ben Gibbard's usual moody, ethereal material.

Leona Lewis's first single from her forthcoming album "Echo" serves as a shot across the bow to  those who have come before her that there is a new diva on the scene and she will not go quietly. The opening strings and upfront vocals of "Happy" recall Sinead O'Connor's cover of Prince's ""Nothing Compares 2 U."

The song then explodes into a melodramatic, full-on production to great effect.  Following the success of "Bleeding Love" and "Better in Time," from her 2007 album, "Spirit," Lewis shows herself to be a real vocal talent to be reckoned with. The mid-tempo ballad, written by Lewis, E. Kidd Bogard and "Bleeding Love" co-authored Ryan Tedder, cautions about being a spectator in one's own life.

Lewis, winner of Britain's talent contest, "The X Factor," worships at the altars of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston and she could prove to be a worthy successor, although it's clear that neither one of them is ready to hang up their crowns yet. Like those two, restraint is hardly in Lewis's canon and there's a point in "Happy" where she attempts the "calling-all-dogs" kind of shrill high note that Carey specializes in that does no one any good. B

ut otherwise, it's a strong performance that shows she is far from a one-hit wonder. ("Better in Time" peaked at No. 11, so in our mind, the jury was still out).

Carrie Underwood

Is Carrie Underwood's new single, "Cowboy Casanova" too rock for country radio? 

With its crunchy guitar riffs, aggressive drums and rapid-fire lyrical delivery, the song has more in common with Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" and Tammy Wynette's classic "Stand By Your Man" (despite the fact that the video stream on youtube, before dissolving into a still of Underwood opens with a cowboy in a bar walking over to the jukebox as "Stand By Your Man" plays...). However, the answer is "Hell, no."

Underwood's label, Arista Nashville, rushed out a completed track of the song, from her Nov. 3 release "Play On," after an unfinished version leaked a few days ago. The song, about a cowboy who will break your heart (is there any other kind?) and, to quote Elvis is a "devil is disguise," is a hard-driving, uptempo, in-your-face song bolstered by Underwood's impeccable vocals.

There's no denying that the girl can sing and while most folks consider Kelly Clarkson the best belter out of the "American Idol" camp, Underwood gives her a run for her money and is a flat out better singer than Clarkson.  

Underwood has done a superb job in her short career of giving radio cuts that lean toward traditional country (in both sound and the "God's in charge" lyrical content), like "Jesus Take the Wheel," and mixing that up with songs that have a rockier element. Even though the songs are mid-tempo, "Before He Cheats" and "Last Name" have some pretty hard edges that make "Cowboy Casanova" seem like a fairly logical progression, rather than a major stylistic leap.

Underwood co-wrote the song with Brett James (who co-penned "Jesus Take the Wheel") and Mike Elizondo, a bassist and producer best known with his work with Eminem, Dr. Dre, Pink and Nelly Furtado. We credit him with the driving sound.

Just to hedge all bets, in case Arista was worried that country radio pushes back, producer Mark Bright has taken a little of the edge off by introducing a fiddle right up at the top of the song. That's fine, but we would have killed the cheesy "oh, oh, oh" background vocals.

And while we're at it, are we the only one that thinks the opening notes recall Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel?"

Whitney Houston

There is no question that Whitney Houston's "I Look to You" will come in at No. 1 next week, no matter whose album chart you follow, The only question is how much will the diva's comeback sell?  

The title looks like it will move upwards of 300,000 copies according to Hits Daily Double. That's a handy sum in this day and age, but nowhere what the hype would have you to believe, since everyone from Oprah to "Good Morning America" are trying to make us believe this is a more highly anticipated event than Halley's Comet.  The  fact is that the jury is out on Houston. Reviews of the album have been mixed. Second single, the uptempo "Million Dollar Bill" continues to do well, but the title track did not ignite at radio.  The good news for the label, Arista, is that Houston's album, after debuting at No. 1 and then falling the next week (while all eyes are on the Beatles reissues), will undoubtedly see another surge following her Sept. 14 "Oprah" appearance.

Look for baby diva Miley Cyrus's EP, "Time of our Lives" to move to No. 2. R&B singer Trey Songz will come in at No. 3 with his strongest career debut, while rockers Chevelle should debut around No. 8 with sales of 40,000 or so.  Pitbull's "Rebelution" may eek into the Top 10, although, like many rappers, he's better at selling digital downloads right now than albums.

Madonna during her "Sticky & Sweet" tour

Credit: AP Photo

Material Girl indeed. Madonna has just completed what is being called the most successful tour by a solo artist ever.

Madge's "Sticky & Sweet" tour concluded on Wednesday in Israel.  The outing, which spanned more than a year, 85 dates and 32 countries, grossed $408 million, according to the BBC. That buys a lot of Kabbalah water. 

As anyone who attended the shows knows, those tickets didn't come cheap. For example, tickets to her recent Copenhagen show were $266.

Whose record does the 51-year old break? Her own. Her 2006 "Confessions" tour grossed $194 million.

The Rolling Stones' "Bigger Bang" tour remains the highest grossing tour: it ran from 2005 to 2007 and raked in $558 million. Maybe instead of "Bigger Bang, it should have been called "Bigger Bank..."

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana

Nirvana's 1992 headlining Reading Festival performance--the one in which Kurt Cobain was wheeled on stage in a wheelchair and played the whole gig in a white hospital gown-will come out on Nov. 3  as a limited edition CD/DVD.

And just in case you don't want "Nirvana Live at Reading" that way, on Nov. 4, you can get it as a DVD only CD only or 2-LP version. Basically, you can reach Nirvana any way you want to.

Diehard Nirvana fans have already bootlegged this concert from Seattle to Reading, but for the rest of us, the remaining members of the band supervised this project, which has been remixed in 5.1 surround sound.

The set contained 25 songs, including the first public performance of "Tourette's."

Nirvana Live At Reading DVD track listing:

1.    Breed
2.    Drain You
3.    Aneurysm
4.    School
5.    Sliver
6.    In Bloom
7.    Come As You Are
8.    Lithium
9.    About A Girl
10. Tourette's
11. Polly
12. Lounge Act
13. Smells Like Teen Spirit
14. On A Plain
15. Negative Creep
16. Been A Son
17. All Apologies
18. Blew
19. Dumb
20. Stay Away
21. Spank Thru
22. Love Buzz
23. The Money Will Roll Right In
24. D-7
25. Territorial Pissing

Nirvana Live At Reading CD track listing

1.    Breed                                                                             
2.    Drain You
3.    Aneurysm
4.    School
5.    Sliver
6.    In Bloom
7.    Come As You Are
8.    Lithium
9.    About A Girl
10. Tourette's
11. Polly
12. Lounge Act
13. Smells Like Teen Spirit
14. On A Plain
15. Negative Creep
16. Been A Son
17. All Apologies
18. Blew
19. Dumb
20. Stay Away
21. Spank Thru
22. The Money Will Roll Right In
23. D-7
24.  Territorial Pissing

Whitney Houston on "Good Morning America"

Credit: AP Photo/Evan Agostini

The internets are buzzing about Whitney Houston's taped performance that aired on "Good Morning America" today.  Some folks are heralding it, others, such as Gawker.com, are calling it "disastrous."

Now there's a debate raging on about if Houston's voice was "sweetened."  That, of course, is routinely done on TV appearances, but since "Good Morning America" falls under ABC's news division, such tampering without admitting it is strictly verboten.

From Gawker:

The taping in front of adoring fans was part of the long-lost singer's big comeback and there were reports that Houston and her voice weren't at their greatest yesterday. "She was really damaged," said one fan. That damage, said Whitney, was from gabbing with Oprah for too long.

Whatever the true cause, our tipsters says that following the concert GMA producers and network executives at ABC furiously debated what to air. Ultimately, GMA entertainment producer Karen Rhee convinced the ABC brass in L.A. - and over the objections of the ABC News executives in New York (yes, GMA is technically a news program - to bring in a post-production team to "sweeten" Houston's voice.

Houston could have proved that her voice is back by performing live, but clearly the powers that be felt that was too risky. Plus, as much as she may want to come back, it's hard to imagine that Houston would be willing and ready to sing with the birds. (A live performance at 8:30 a.m. has to be tough enough, much less the sound check that usually concludes before 7 a.m., depending upon the morning show).

As I watched playbacks of the performance, all I could think was there's no way we'll see Houston mount a full-on tour given that she could hardly get through four songs, but then I remembered that Britney Spears had one of the most successful tours of the year without singing a note (of course, few have claimed to be a fan of Spears because of her stellar vocals). We're sure that people will pay to hear Houston hit a few well-placed high notes, scat a little, do some call and response, and otherwise let the back up singers have the glory (as well as the time honored tradition of getting the crowd to sing along).

As far as the four-song "Good Morning America" performance goes, Houston's not "disastrous" by any means, but she does nothing to dispel thoughts that her voice is far from what it used to be. While Houston fans have, perhaps rightly, declared it unfair to judge her voice on the same merits we did 20 years ago, it seems that's all we have to judge her on. As we see more of her return performances (if there are any), we'll be able to see if the nuances, heartache and wisdom that made Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday's voices so compelling in their later years---long after their initial flawless delivery was gone -- exists with Houston. We bet it does. 

On title track, "I Look to You," Houston's voice cracked from the start, but she sounded plenty strong during the first chorus. Plus, the emotional delivery of the song far outweighed any technical flaws (proof of our above point). She didn't even attempt to hit the high note near the end though-whether by design or an in-the-moment decision.  And "GMA" certainly managed to tug the heartstrings by showing Mama Houston crying over her baby's return.  Pretty much the same on the much less vocally challenging "Million Dollar Bill," Houston started strong, but let the crowd and the back up singers do any heavy lifting. By the time she got to "My Love is Your Love," she was audibly raspy and resorted to talking through much of it.  "I'm Every Woman" was buoyed by an audience whom you could feel rooting for her.

Listen, I'm as happy as the next girl that Houston's back and that she seems to have conquered her personal demons, which is much more of a triumph than putting out a new album that seems headed straight for the top of the charts. But her label's breathless hype machine might do well to turn down the rhetoric a little. If her handlers are so adamant about convincing us that Houston is back to form, then let the music speak for itself...and let's see her sing live.